Let’s Get Organized {Happy Drawers}

Do you have a ‘junk drawer’ in your house? Raise your hand if it makes you HAPPY like that drawer above when you open it. I can tell you right now that the worst junk drawer in my home does not resemble that one. Nope, not even a little bit. On the contrary, the worst junk drawer in my house just makes me SAD when I open it. But now I’m inspired to make my junk drawers happy drawers. Because why be sad when you open a drawer?

After searching for pretty organized drawers online, suddenly I feel like every drawer in my house needs cute little dividers. And every drawer needs to be color coordinated and lined with adorable patterned paper.

It really only takes a few minutes to empty out a drawer, sort everything out by category and throw out what you don’t need! Add a few drawer dividers (or whip out the pretty paper too if you’re feeling fancy), and you will have a magazine-worthy junk drawer in no time.

Small baking sheets are repurposed in these shallow drawers to corral office supplies like paper, envelopes, and stamps.

Remember my baking drawer? It’s still organized just like this, using what I have to divide small items.

What else could you find around the house to use as drawer dividers?

What drawers could use some freshening up at your home this weekend?

PS. How are you doing on the “Bag A Day” challenge? We’ve been making progress on some spring cleaning, little by little!

Also, hey, if you get a chance this weekend, don’t forget that The Inspired Room is voted one of the Top 10 Decorating Blogs by Better Homes and Gardens, which means voting is now open for readers to choose their favorites in each blog category!

If The Inspired Room is your favorite, I would appreciate your vote! You can vote as many times as you’d like through March 30th via this link! Thank you for your support! :)

Comments

Most fun I had at the holidays was organizing my large jewelry in the top drawers of my dresser. It was a belated birthday present but with velvet lined boxes and clear lids, it is a pleasure to see all my treasures. Do it now if you can- now I can see what I have~

If you’re feeling super thrifty you can use small cardboard boxes to make drawer dividers–like the ones cosmetics come in, for instance. If you’re feeling crafty cover them with pretty paper. Alas, even though I have a collection of little boxes for this express purpose, I am still just throwing everything willy nilly into my junk drawers!

You’re always an inspiration, Melissa, even for the practical and seemingly mundane areas of our homes! I’d really hate for anyone to see my junk drawer. Like Joy, I’ve just started a collection of small boxes, such as jewelry gift boxes and the bottom of cereal boxes to cover with fabric scraps or scrapbook paper. My plan is to fit them [puzzle style] into the drawer so everything has a place. Ah, but it will never look like your lead photo – coordinated pencils and paper clips will never happen for me. (:

I love the way The Inspired Room teaches how to “Love” your home no matter how modest! In other words you can make anything look Attractive & Desirable with a little imagination. & elbow grease.
Enjoy your blog v much.
All the best

Just about to tackle this project for my almost finished office and then I’ll tackle the bathroom/closet storage. Still using stacked mixed shallow and deep white plastic storage boxes in the closet – someday green metal or wood ones. Kitchen is still a work in progress too, but as usual, your provide so much inspiration.

How do you prevent your drawer organizers from sliding around? I have a few that I’d like to secure to the bottom of the drawer so they don’t slide when I open the drawer. I’ve heard of velcor pads but just wondering what other options are out there.

I like to use drawer liners! You just cut them to fit and they work great to keep things from sliding around! Here’s a link to one brand online but you can find them at home improvement stores or probably Target too > http://amzn.to/1LrmaAd

Thanks for the inspiration! I wasn’t even done reading your post and I went straight to our “junk” drawer in the kitchen and organized all the pens, markers, highlighters, rulers, scissors etc… Just recently I looked in that drawer and said to my husband…”we have enough pens to last a life time!!!” How does that happen? Thank you again!

Oh good!! :) I feel the same way when I see these kinds of pictures so I’m always happy to hear that they were inspiring for you too! And strangely we have the opposite problem at our house, for some reason all of our pens seem to disappear! Ha!

Thanks for the inspiration. My junk drawer is ridiculously unorganized. Actually, everything I own is that way. I am working on getting rid of some things with the 40 bags in 40 days challenge, but I’m a bit behind. Maybe cleaning out a few drawers full of junk will help catch me up.

I use hand towel racks to sit on the drawers in my closet and hang necklaces and bracelets from it. Works great! I have towel racks hung in the closet that I use to drape my scarves on. Also have a miniature folding 3-piece screen (can be found at Stacks and Stacks) for silver earrings and one for gold. Makes it so much easier to coordinate all my accessories.

I was going to donate the china i bought at a garage sale but now i am inspired to repurpose it in my dresser drawers. This article was perfectly timed. Thank you.

I also have put together a giant gift bag with beauty products that are extra to me but will be fun for my friend who wants to try to use make-up to experiment with. I also have extra clothes for her since she’s a size smaller than me. It’s so fun to downsize when you can bless someone else.